Law enforcement groups push law forcing carriers to store all customer text messages

In what’s sure to be a controversial proposal, several law enforcement groups are pushing Congress to pass a law requiring wireless carriers to store all their customers’ text messages so they can be accessed by police during investigations. CNET reports that the proposed law is similar to one pushed recently by “a constellation of law enforcement groups, including the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association, the National District Attorneys’ Association, and the National Sheriffs’ Association” late last year.

Richard Littlehale, a supervisor at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, will tell a congressional panel in prepared testimony Tuesday that law enforcement officials need access to text messages because “billions of texts are sent every day, and some surely contain key evidence about criminal activity.” Littlehale will also explain that “text messaging often plays a big role in investigations related to domestic violence, stalking, menacing, drug trafficking, and weapons trafficking.”